Single Dose ‘Sputnik Light’ is promising, but approval only after examining its immunogenicity : India

New Delhi: The Government of India on Friday said that the launch of single dose vaccines like Sputnik Light and Johnson & Johnson are very encouraging as these vaccines will help in accelerating the vaccination process.

“ The emergence of single dose vaccines like Sputnik Light and Johnson & Johnson are very encouraging and if a single dose vaccine can provide us protection, we can accelerate the speed of vaccination” said Dr. V.K.Paul, head of government of India’s COVID-19 task force.

He said that the government of India can approve the Sputnik Light only after examining its immunogenicity of the single dose.

“ If their application comes we’ll examine the data and after which it’ll have to go through the usual regulatory process before approval” he said.

India has already approved the Sputnik V vaccine (Gam-COVID-Vac) developed by Russia’s Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology.

Unlike other vaccines, the Sputnik V (Gam-COVID-Vac) is a combined vector vaccine, based on rAd type 26 (rAd26) and rAd type 5 (rAd5)—both of which carry the gene for SARS-CoV-2 full-length glycoprotein S (rAd26-S and rAd5-S). rAd26-S and rAd5-S are administered intramuscularly separately with a 21-day interval.

But in case of ‘Sputnik Light’, only rAd type 26 is administered as it generates enough immunogenicity to protect against COVID-19, claims Sputnik.